Beyond Buna: Atmit, Besso, Borde & Telba

Coffee may be Ethiopia's gift to the world, but step into an Ethiopian kitchen and you'll find a whole cabinet of drinks the world hasn't met yet — some warming, some nourishing, some gently fermented, all worth knowing.

Atmit (አጥሚት) — the comfort cup

Atmit is a drink of barley and oat flour whisked into water and flavored with niter kibbe and sugar — silky, warm, and traditionally given to new mothers, the recovering, and anyone in need of gentleness. Think of it as Ethiopia's original comfort drink: porridge you can sip.

Besso — the meal in a glass

Roasted barley flour — beso — whisked into cold water with honey becomes a drink that is breakfast, energy bar, and refreshment at once. Thicker, with butter, it's a bowl; thinner, it travels in a bottle. Shamita, its fermented cousin, is brewed overnight from roasted barley and drunk as a meal replacement — low in alcohol, high in sustenance.

Borde — the living drink

In the south and west, borde is the cereal-based fermented beverage of daily life: opaque, effervescent, whitish-grey to brown, thick in body with a sweet-sour taste. Like injera, it's alive — a fermentation tradition in a cup.

Telba — the flaxseed classic

Roasted, ground flaxseed shaken with water and a touch of honey becomes telba: nutty, cooling, and quietly nutritious, sometimes eaten as telba fitfit with injera. Alongside it sit abish drink (fenugreek's restorative whisk), suf (sunflower-seed milk for fasting days), kineto (honeyed barley refreshment), and aguat — the whey left from making ayib, wasted never.

Bring the cabinet home

Most of these need only a pantry staple and a whisk — the recipes are on our Recipes blog, including our beso shake and abish drink. Warm yours with Kibbeh or brew a pot of Ethiopian Tea Spices while you're at it.